Daryl Daley, CD - Recruiter

IT Recruiter

★ Senior Tech Recruiter ★ Career Coach ★ | Building Elite Teams | Crafting Tech Careers | Connecting Talent with Opportunity | Mastering the Art of Tech Recruitment and Career Fulfillment |

Building Elite Teams. Transforming Careers. Solving Hiring Challenges (Without the Caffeine Overload).

Great! You’re here! 

Whether you’re hiring top talent or looking for your next big career move, I’m here to help.

Hi, I’m Daryl, a Senior Tech Recruiter, Career Coach, and Executive Search Specialist—your trusted guide for hiring the right talent and unlocking career potential.

With 30+ years of experience, I’ve helped companies across tech, cybersecurity, and consulting industries secure top talent while empowering professionals to land impactful roles. Whether you’re hiring for mission-critical positions or ready to take control of your career, I deliver proven strategies, tailored guidance, and real results.

For Companies
Hiring top talent doesn’t have to feel like a never-ending search.

🔍 My Expertise:

Key Talent Recruitment: Recruiting for high-impact technical, cybersecurity, and consulting roles across mid-level and senior leadership.
Executive Search: Helping organizations secure the leadership they need to innovate and thrive.
Results-Focused Strategies: Delivering candidates who hit the ground running, make an impact, and stay for the long term.

📈 The result? Faster hiring, better candidates, and stronger teams built to succeed.

For Professionals
Your next big career move isn’t hiding—it’s waiting for the right strategy.

As a career coach, I’ve guided over 10,000 job seekers to stand out, land interviews, and negotiate offers with confidence.

🚀 What My Clients Achieve:

An immediate increase in inbound interest from recruiters and hiring managers.
More traction with resumes, leading to interviews and offers.
A targeted, strategic job search that eliminates “rage applying” and focuses on roles that align with their goals.
Confidence in interviews, with compelling stories that showcase their unique value.
Stronger negotiating power, resulting in offers they’re excited to accept.

Why Work With Me?
Proven Expertise: 30+ years in tech recruiting and career coaching means I’ve seen it all—and solved it all.
Personalized Approach: No cookie-cutter templates—everything is tailored to your unique needs.
Real Results: Whether it’s building a high-performing team or landing a dream role, my strategies deliver measurable success.

Let’s Connect
Your next hire—or career breakthrough—is just a conversation away.

📩 Message me on LinkedIn
📅 Schedule a Call:
🌐 Explore Resources: 

Whether you’re building your team or your future, let’s make it happen—and maybe even enjoy the process along the way.

Tech Recruiter - Acquirer of High Performance Talent

RESULTS I DELIVER
• Better quality search results. If you are pitting one firm against another, they will race against each other (for a brief while) to get resumes to you as quickly as possible. Because of the imposed urgency, you are likely to see a number of unqualified resumes. Non-exclusive recruiters often hope to get lucky and hit a match, rather than putting in the effort to screen properly.

•  Deeper and broader search. Committing to one recruiter will allow that recruiter to spend the time to network and headhunt to uncover the very best candidate for your requirements, rather than just pulling resumes out of a database.

•  Less work for the hiring manager. If you are working with multiple search firms, you will get a lot more resumes than you would working with just one recruiter. However, many of those resumes will not match your hiring needs, which just makes more work for the hiring manager. Not to mention time spent sorting out candidate ownership disputes between multiple firms.

•  Better candidate experience. Have you ever received the same resume from more than one recruiter? It can make your company look unprofessional if more than one recruiter interviews a candidate about the same job. And you may see some great candidates back out of the process entirely when multiple firms are involved.

•  Confidentiality. For a confidential search, working with more than one recruiting firm makes no sense. It will be impossible for a recruiter to keep the company name confidential if there are multiple search firms involved.

Daryl Daley

The counteroffer is an insult dressed up as respect.
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂.
They're buying time to replace you.

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰.

I've watched this pattern for 30+ years. Someone gets another offer. Suddenly the budget appears. The promotion that was "not possible" becomes available. The manager who had no time clears their calendar.

Here's the truth: the problem that made you look doesn't disappear with more money.

More money doesn't fix a bad manager.
A new title doesn't fix a broken culture.
Promises don't fix neglect.

You already mentally left. The counteroffer just delays it.

Most people who accept are gone within 6-18 months anyway (anecdotal evidence). Because nothing actually changed except the number on your paycheck.

And you burned the bridge with the company that wanted you without leverage.

Here's what I tell every candidate: 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿. Companies will always do what's in their best interest. You need to do what's in yours.

Take the new job.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

★ Senior Tech & Cybersecurity Recruiter ★ Career Coach ★ 30+ Years Driving Elite Technical & Executive Hires ★ Helping Companies Solve Hard-to-Fill Roles ★ We’re Always Hiring Top Talent! ★

𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗴𝗼 𝗻𝗼𝘄?
You've been asking yourself
this for six months.

𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝗴𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲. New company, new politics, new proof required.

𝗜𝗳 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲. Same dead-end projects, same empty promises, same salary you've outgrown.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲.

I know. You're waiting for a sign. Waiting for the promotion they keep delaying. Waiting for the market to feel safer. Waiting for permission.

𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄.

Here's the sign: your manager hasn't mentioned your promotion in eight months. The "high-visibility project" went to someone else. You're doing director work at senior pay.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸.

That's the pattern you're living in. Monday your VP says you're "essential." Wednesday you're excluded from the strategy meeting. Friday they hire someone external for the role you were building toward.

You already know the answer.

You're just afraid of being wrong.

But staying when the data says go isn't safe. It's expensive. You're leaving $40K on the table every year you wait. You're losing skills because you're not being challenged. You're getting older in a market that rewards movement.

𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗺 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲?

You're asking the wrong people. Your company won't tell you. Your manager can't tell you. The market already has.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲, 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲.

Your company already answered. They're just not saying it out loud.

𝗦𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗜 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝘄?

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟵𝟴𝟮. You know it now.

Stop waiting for perfect timing. It doesn't exist.

The ones who move when the data says move are three levels higher. The ones who wait for certainty are still waiting.

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Everyone keeps saying it's an employer's market.
Unemployment sits at 4.4%. Your inbox is fuller than it's been in months.

So yeah, on paper it looks like you're in the driver's seat.

Except your critical roles are still open. Delivery keeps slipping. And the talent shortages in IT, healthcare, and energy are sitting at 76-77%.

If this were really an employer's market, those numbers wouldn't exist.

Here's what's actually happening.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁. The inbox is full of people who can do the job adequately. They'll show up. They'll execute tasks. They won't move the needle.

The people who can actually solve your problems? They're not flooding your applicant tracking system. They're working. And they're watching you.

They see the hesitation. The reluctance to commit to headcount even though placements doubled in February. The AI-driven layoffs that are cutting faster than you're building capability.

They're unimpressed.

You're posting roles, then pulling back. You're interviewing in rounds that stretch for weeks. You're asking for another stakeholder meeting while your competitor makes an offer.

The best talent doesn't wait for you to get comfortable. They take the role that moves.

I've watched this pattern for 30 years. Companies mistake activity for advantage. More applications doesn't mean better hires. It just means more noise.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗹. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁.

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯?

An hour later: Meetings continue without you.
A week later: Someone steps up.
A month later: Shortcuts appear.
A year later: You're a footnote.

And that's the truth.

If quitting feels like erasing yourself, you didn't lose security.
You lost an identity you outsourced to an employer.

I've watched this for 30 years.
𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆.

Ready to build that career? DM me.

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱.

And you're doing it backwards.

Here's what you're wasting time on:

Memorizing answers to "tell me about yourself"

Practicing responses to common behavioral questions

Reading the company's mission statement and values page over & over.

Rehearsing why you want to work there

None of that separates you.

Here's what actually matters:

All hiring is reactive. Something isn't working. Revenue is flat. A team is overloaded. A system is broken. Someone quit.

Your job isn't to recite your background.

It's to prove you can solve their specific problem.

Real prep looks like this:

Research what's actually broken. Read their earnings calls, press releases, Glassdoor reviews. Find the pain.

Prepare questions that show you understand their reality. Not "what's the culture like?" Ask "what's the biggest bottleneck in your current process?"

Connect your past work to their current problem. Show the before and after. Make it concrete.

Stop memorizing scripts.

Start thinking like someone who already has the job.

That's what hiring managers notice.

That's what gets offers.

graphical user interface, text, chat or text message

I'm working an executive search when my client pivots mid-call.
"𝗪𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝟰𝟳 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗢𝗽𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀."

I'm thinking this could be my next search. Then I hear his reasoning.

First candidate: "Didn't demonstrate enough AI literacy."

I pause. "What does AI literacy mean for a DevOps Engineer in your environment?"

Silence.

Second candidate: "Lacked strategic thinking."

"How did you test for that?"

"Whiteboard puzzle. They couldn't solve it fast enough."

I'm three decades into this work. I've seen this pattern hundreds of times.

The problem isn't the candidates.

It's that my client has no idea what problem they're actually hiring to solve.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 "𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆" 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝘁.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 "𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴" 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀.

They rejected 47 qualified people for reasons that have nothing to do with the work.

Here's what the data shows: 59% of HR leaders say they can't find skilled talent. And 62% are facing crises because their job requirements are unclear.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲. (𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲)

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱.

Companies spend months searching for the perfect candidate while their actual problem goes unsolved. They filter for buzzwords. They test for irrelevant skills. They reject people who could do the job because those people don't fit a checklist nobody can explain.

Meanwhile, qualified candidates are sitting in your pipeline wondering why they keep getting rejected.

The fix isn't more candidates.

It's better questions:

What specific problem does this role solve in the next 90 days?

What does success look like six months in?

What skills actually matter for that outcome?

𝗨𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴.

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲.

And no amount of "skilled talent" will fix that.

Clients Job posting: "𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆."
Me: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲?
Them: 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.

Me: What's the range?

Them: We prefer to discuss that later.

Me: What's the range?

Them: 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴

I've been recruiting for 30 years.

This conversation still happens every single week.

And it never stops being ridiculous.

Here's what "competitive salary" actually means:

We benchmarked against companies we'll never name. We have a number. But we're not telling you because we think you'll negotiate better if you're flying blind.

Spoiler: You won't.

You'll just get annoyed and ghost us.

Or you'll waste three weeks interviewing only to find out we're $40K apart.

Nobody wins this game.

Not the candidate who's trying to pay rent.

Not the hiring manager who just lost their top choice.

Not me, stuck in the middle explaining why we can't just say the number.

The fix is simple. Some jurisdictions get it. Parts of Canada, the US, and Western Europe now legally require salary ranges in postings. They're forcing the transparency the rest of us should've had all along.

But we won't do that because someone in 1987 decided salary negotiations should feel like hostage negotiations.

And we've been stuck ever since.

HappyFriday

Stop playing games with people's livelihoods.

I check 100+ LinkedIn profiles every day for open roles.
𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲.

Here's why:

Your LinkedIn activity says you're consuming content, not creating value.

I check profiles daily for roles I'm filling. If I can't tell what you bring to the table and what problem you solve in 10 seconds, I'm moving to the next candidate who made it obvious.

Your network can't help you if they don't know what you need.

Thursday afternoon is your forcing function.

What actually moved forward this week?

What's still stuck?

The ones who win do weekly audits. They kill what's not working before it becomes next week's habit.

You have 24 hours to course correct.

𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝘁.

Pick your three best applications from this week. Read them like you're the hiring manager. Find the one thing that's off.

Fix that one thing.

Then start next week different.

Volume without adjustment is just repeated failure at scale.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲.  𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲.

Discipline moves searches forward. Waiting for motivation keeps you stuck.

𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗜 𝗱𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
If you're dreading Monday, here's the 15-minute Sunday routine that replaces anxiety with 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡:

1. Pick your top 3 target companies for the week. 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.

2. Identify one decision you've been avoiding. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁. 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘄.

3. Review last week's applications. What got responses? 𝗗𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.

4. Draft one outreach message to someone at a target company. 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝟵𝗮𝗺.

5. 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼-𝗱𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱.

No journaling. No affirmations. No vision boards.

𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡.

This doesn't create comfort. It creates action.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁.

Digital Marketing and Technology Recruiter @ Knak Digital | Fractional Talent Acquisition | Hitting Hiring Roadblocks? I can help 🙋🏻‍♀️ Job Search Advisor & Myth Debunker | Baltimore & D.C. 🔊 (Riv-Knack)

Are you struggling to hire tech and marketing talent to keep up with your organization’s growth?

Maybe your internal applications are jammed with tons of inbound resumes, but very few that are actually on target. Meanwhile, your team is buried, deliverables are slipping, and the right roles stay open way too long.

That’s where I come in.

I’m Kelli Hrivnak, a Marketing & Tech Recruiter, who helps hypergrowth companies fill critical roles faster than traditional methods.  For nearly two decades, I've been a trusted ally to small to midmarket businesses in DC, Virginia, and Maryland, building teams that boost revenue, innovation, and collaborative success.  

My background in hospitality and outside sales taught me the art of relationship building and high-pressure, often intense, decision-making skills that translated to the recruiting world.  That experience shaped how I recruit.

Hiring Hurdles Impacting my Clients:

✔️ Speed to hire.   A vacant position is slowing down your project deliverables and product development.
✔️ Hiring surge and internal recruitment/TA team is swamped.
✔️ Burned by past mis-hires and unsuccessful track record of hiring
✔️ No time to review resumes or screen candidates thoroughly.
✔️ Job Postings that result in 100's of applicants with no time to review
✔️ Underlying need to replace underperformers, confidentially
✔️ Skills gap and the relentless competition for the same pool of talent

Knak Digital Solutions:

Placement & Sourcing:
✔️ 30,000+ vetted tech and marketing contacts in our proprietary database
✔️ 100% dedication to networking, sourcing, and interviewing for faster fill times
✔️ Tailored recruiting approach that fits your team’s culture
✔️ Project-based consultants when you don't need full-time specialists

Embedded Recruiting Support:
✔️ On-demand, flexible recruiting help that scales with your needs
✔️ Extra capacity during hiring spikes so your team doesn’t get overloaded
✔️ Alternative model to project-based searches, especially when hiring 3 or more roles.

Talent Consulting:
✔️ Discreet searches for underperformers, leadership changes, and succession planning
✔️ Employer brand support to improve candidate attraction
✔️ Market intel on competitors, salary trends, and talent movement

Ready to break through your hiring bottlenecks?  Let's start a conversation. 

📧 Email: kelli@Knakdigital.com

Search job listings here ▶ https://jobs.crelate.com/portal/knakdigital

Kelli Hrivnak

Recruiting can often be a thankless career.

I mean, there’s an entire Reddit sub dedicated to it #recruitinghell

Kudos to the real ones out here who prioritize candidate experience.  This will continue to be the differentiator, especially as those human communication skills are top value.

If you’ve worked with a stellar recruiter, let them know.  Happy Friday 🎉

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

Another meaningful session volunteering with the Arc of Frederick last week.

One program member came back this time with a visual resume, a huge improvement from our last session.

I also worked with someone new who's pursuing a mechanic position. He moved smoothly through most interview questions, paused on one that caught him off guard, and we skipped ahead. After answering the next question, he circled back to address the skipped one.

This is actually good interview practice for anyone. Taking a sec (or two) to think is ok. If you need more time to process a question, embrace the pause. (This is exactly why time accommodations exist in some interview settings.)

During our conversation afterward, he mentioned working on cars as a hobby.  This is exactly when hobbies ARE relevant.  If any side projects translate to the target job, these experiences are well worth talking about.

If you’re curious about getting involved with the Arc of Frederick or supporting adults with developmental disabilities, I’ll drop the link below.

A few resume tips I keep repeating lately, so I’m just going to put them here. 

1️⃣ Add a company descriptor if the brand isn’t widely known.

Example:   Strategist, XYZ Company (MarTech Series B startup, ~$15M ARR, ~75 employees)

2️⃣ AI. Yes, I know. Barf.   But modern resumes should be showing how you are integrating AI into your day-to-day workflows, research, productivity, etc.  This can also include ethical guardrails, workshops, and training.

 3️⃣Don’t be humble if you’re not under an NDA.   Name the product you built, the campaigns you supported.  If you are a consultant, can you list client/customer work specifically?  These fine details show scope and depth, plus some logos can trigger that industry alignment/appeal.

Any resume questions?  I'm stuck on a flight for the next three hours.  Let it rip.

Feels relevant on this Friday the 13th.

Looking at the handful of people who just landed job offers, I can say they earned those roles because they were the best candidates in the pool.  They crushed their assignments in the interview, prepped for those calls, and asked the right questions when it came to an offer.

No doubt, luck comes into play here and there.  Referrals being one.  But luck can only get you so far.

Sunday job search tips.....

1️⃣ If the role is hybrid, your location matters.

If you’re applying from out of state and the resume says nothing about relocation, that's going to be a rejection from me. I will not be reaching out to everyone individually to clarify that they understand the in-office requirements. 

If you are relocating, define this in the resume. If you’re self-funding the move, even better. In high-supply roles, companies are not stretching on geography unless they have to.

2️⃣ All this "reverse recruiting" talk.  Take a tip out of what should be their playbook and track your search.  A simple spreadsheet with company, role, date applied, and traction.

PS. You know what signals organized? When a candidate immediately references their job search data during a screen.

3️⃣ Get clear on your positioning.  I hear people considering a few job tracks.
 “I could do Customer Success or Account Executive.”

Okay. But can you back that up? Revenue growth. Sales targets. Expansion metrics. Implementation ownership. Relationship management.  Audit your tasks and outcomes first, then engineer if those can be proof to your target job tracks.

Would you pay someone to find you a job?

I’ve been approached numerous times in the past by job seekers in my networking, offering that they would pay me a fee to find them a job . Aka,  the recently coined “reverse recruiting” services.

For the record, I do NOT offer this.  I'll get into why...

But the WSJ article caught my eye this week, covering job seekers paying to be “recruited” because the market feels brutal right now.

One platform mentioned claims access to students from 20 “top-ranked” universities along with partnerships with 2,000+ companies. I have not personally seen this platform show up in real hiring workflows, and I have to wonder how engaged those hiring teams actually are in reviewing these "referrals."

If you are considering any reverse recruiting or apply-on-your-behalf service, ask these questions first:

🔹 What exact actions are they taking on my behalf?
 🔹Am I reviewing and approving every submission, or am I trusting them blindly?
 🔹 How are they answering open-ended questions about my background, gaps, or career moves?
 🔹Do they understand my experience well enough to actually market me?
🔹 Will I get a full report of where they applied, when, and the status of each role?

The core reason I would never take this on is that I would never want to guarantee that I could lock down a job for anyone, as market demand and how one interviews is beyond my control.  I encourage anyone to understand the mechanics and KPI's behind any service representing you to employers.

Scammers will come out of the woodwork, especially when the job market pendulum has swung in their favor.

Curious to hear of anyone's experience with these type of services?

Open article: Job Hunters Are So Desperate That They’re Paying to Get Recruited by wsj.com

Job Hunters Are So Desperate That They’re Paying to Get Recruited

Mark Cuban says SAAS is dead.  

Instead, hello "service as a software."

I get the take.  On every social platform I am on, I read about people spinning up apps with Claude Code, Replit, or Lovable.  Sometimes, within a matter of hours.  

In theory, everyone can be their own product managers now.  Problem solvers are everywhere.

But I'm just not convinced we are all problem understanders.  Let me give an example near and dear to my little recruiter heart:  The ATS.

There are dozens and dozens of applicant tracking systems. All have their nuances, with different audiences like Enterprise, SMB. Internal TA or Agency.  What's rarer is finding a recruiter who uses one and adores one platform.

🔸Business development workflows are clunky
🔸Tagging and rediscovering talent is complicated
🔸Reporting dashboards aren't tracking the data you want.
🔸The UX is terrible.

And yet, new ATS tools continue to ship and recruitment teams continue to demo them, hoping to discover the one that understands how *that* team moves through their day.

The barrier to building software has crumbled.  The barrier to diagnosing and recognizing the legitimate pain point has not.  

Duplicating an existing product may decrease subscription services for some businesses, but for new custom software--there isn't a guarantee for a product-market fit. 

I'm also not even addressing the maintenance and scaling piece of it... 

Curious to hear everyone else's thoughts here.  Is accessibility really the game changer here?

AI DOES need us.

Who caught RentAHuman.AI?

Alexander Liteplo launched the site this past Monday, a platform where AI agents can rent out humans to complete tasks they aren't able to do.

Within 48 hours, the platform had 73K rentable "meatwads."

What type of tasks are outsourced to humans?

🔹Pick up a package
🔹Attend a meeting
🔹Verify a physical location
🔹Exist anywhere outside a browser

A random bounty:  Post a photo of yourself holding a sign reading “AN AI PAID ME TO HOLD THIS SIGN.”

Humans are paid out through crypto.

Not sure how legit it really is with tons of tasks still open with dozens of "bids."   It's giving Black Mirror.

I'll drop the link below.

"You have a great read on people and the experience we look for.”

A client recently gave this feedback after we wrapped up a successful search.

Just another reminder that a talent advisor is not just a keyword-matching, 7-second resume scanning, doesn't know what experience they are screening for gatekeepers.

Sourcing and recruiting is not JUST pattern recognition.

It's understanding context and nuance behind the words on a resume or LinkedIn profile.  Because a job title at one company does not automatically translate to the same scope or influence at another.

Different team structures.  Different resources.  Different technical expectations.

Can a tech tool pick up those reads and find full alignment?  #nah

I'm up for the debate.  Change my mind.

Returning from a week semi off the grid.

Watched a Super Bowl with targeted ads for Alka-Seltzer and Meneparol Plus as opposed to the Levi's, Google, and Lays ads here in the States.  A different experience to say the least....

The only AI conversation I overheard was a man saying he just discovered ChatGPT last month and saying “what a game changer it is.” 

Huge thank you to a client partner who gave me grace to take a beach bum video call.

Playing catch up now--please hit me up if I missed your DM or email.

(Good news is that it looks like it may reach over 50+ degrees this weekend and finally melt the snow away).

taplio

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